Sage of No Paths
by Salamander miraculous dragneel
Summary: Finding someone you care about in a bad situation, sucks. But it's worse if it's someone you didn't know you cared about until it was too late. Will Sakura be enough to keep Naruto from sinking too far, or will help come too late?


"Naruto? You there?" Sakura gently pushed open the chipped door to Naruto's apartment, wincing when it screeched loudly, protesting at the movement. "Naruto"?

"Oi, Knuckle head, you here?"

Sakura poked her head around the door and surveyed the seemingly empty space inside. "Naruto"?

The microwave dinged in the corner by the fridge, startling Sakura into a defensive pose. Kunai poised at the ready. She relaxed slightly when she descovered the source of the noise, but didn't pocket her weapon.

Stepping curiously inside, Sakura picked her way around the piles of odd socks and half sharpened weapons, careful not to step on anything. With mild curiosity, she realised, she had never been inside Naruto's apartment before. Ever. In three years it hadn't even crossed her mind. Jeez! Naruto could have lived in a dustbin for all she knew- and let's face it, cared.

His living room walls were white with not a blemish to be seen, and his carpet cream. The room was boxlike yet had an open floor plan to the kitchen which was essentially just another half box to the right of the door. His bedroom, she presumed, lay behind the door furthest away opposite Sakura's current position. Two small windows provided the only light to the place, one on the left wall, the size of a A3 sheet of paper, and the other, about half the size, and above the small stove in the 'kitchen' to her right.

Sakura made her way to the faded blue couch, that looked abandoned in the centre of the room, and looked down at it distastefully. "Urrgg, this looks about ninety years old". Still, she sat down slowly, glaring the entire descent.

Resuming her judgment on Naruto's 'home', her eyes rested on the frames that sat atop a rather worn out looking dresser tucked away in the corner. It appeared to be on the day of their first A rank missions success, the land of waves, and everyone but Saske was grinning. Even she.

The microwave beeped impatiently, jaunting her from the thoughts, and the sweet scent of cooked ramen began infiltrating her senses. "Strange, there's ramen, so where's Naruto"? She half expected him to pop up from underneath the couch and yell out something good ridiculous, like 'Ramen time'! Or something. However, as time ticked on, she began to get the shadow of doubt and anxiousness in her mind. Glancing towards the bedroom door, Sakura made her way over to the microwave, opened it, and took out the instant Ramen pot inside. Then, walking around Naruto's apartment, she wafted the scent around, hoping to lure him out. Twice, she contemplated just barging into his bedroom and seeing if he was within, but the potential horrors that could meet her eyes, warned her otherwise. So instead, she resorted to burning her hands on pot ramen, whilst yelling about how she was going to 'gobble down this yummy ramen if a certain blonde didn't get to it first'.

After a few minutes, Sakura decided enough was enough, and set down the ramen and made her way to the bedroom door. Making sure to knock extra loudly, she threw open the door, so hard that when it swung open and hit the wall, it ricochet back at slammed into Sakura's nose.

With an outraged yell of fury, Sakura's inner demon cussed and threatened blindly. That was until she saw the state of Naruto's room.

Upturned furniture, lay broken and abandoned in various places, and smashed glass, presumably from the photoframes Sakura saw,

jutted out from the carpet at menacing angles. She noticed one of team Kakashi after they completed their first big mission, and her gaze lingered on a pouting whiskered face. She reached out a tentative ha d to pick up the photo, but a sudden rustling noise snapped her attention.

A cute twitching nose, followed by a small brown body and tail sniffed around under the piles of broken furniture. Following the mouse's journey through by he wreckage, Sakura eyes fell on a small trail of blood, leading to the bathroom...


End file.
